Head end cars we would like to see

[thomasjmdavis]

Bruce,

I think I need to hire you to finish my Fast Mail cars for me.  And my Grand Canyon cars.   And about 100 other project cars.  Please tell me you don't get all of this done on Saturday afternoons while watching college football.

Great work.  Hope mine turn out so well.  But I think in order to get it done, I need to retire and do trains full time.

[OldEastRR]

I've had no problems finding decals for any of the Skytop Models builds....

It does depend on what lettering is on the car. For any car that has "United States Railway Post Office" you need those words. Some decals sheets do have 2 sets of that sign; the MS NH decal sheets carry only one set per page. Since the NH had that distinctive lettering style there's no substitutes that will look right. This means for each of my NH troop car conversions, I need to buy (at $5-6 apiece) a separate sheet of decals. Just for two small decals on the page.
I think what some decal maker needs to do is look at the profusion of headend cars coming out in N scale and do a sheet with baggage/RPO lettering signs (both heavyweight and streamlined sets on one sheet), in the style and font of a single railroad. The sheet could contain lettering for express cars and reefers, too. Maybe even throw in a few REA sets. MTL and other brand headend cars that need some modification and repainting can then be lettered correctly. Or at least do several sets of headend lettering font on their current passenger car sheets.

[thomasjmdavis]

It does indeed matter "what road"- but there are a surprising number out there.  A couple of the best sets I can think of, in terms of value, are Bill Mosteller's (Great Decals- where Bill has helpfully provided links to many of the smaller independent decal companies) for L&N head end cars that includes both script and block lettered letterboards, and, at least so far in my experience, any other lettering one might need for a blue scheme L&N head end car. Also the Wabash set that Gary Roe did, that will letter several cars, and will do any blue car (head end or passenger carrying) in the Wabash fleet of the later 50s (it has the later lettering- I want to say the font is called "Futura").  And the Black Cat sets for CN and GTW (the GTW set is essentially the CN set with some GTW decals thrown in) which includes everything you might want for any three 54 scheme cars- including, I think, every sleeper car name- except (unless I missed it) the word "refrigerator" for express refrigerator cars. 

I have found it interesting that there seem to be 2 different theories on decal manufacture- one is to put 1 letterboard set and then just about every conceivable car name or number- that is, you can letter any one car of the type, and the second being to cram as much stuff as will fit on the page, and let the modeler do several cars from the same sheet.

And that is not a knock on MicroScale- their decals are very easy to work with, and I really appreciate that the decal film is separate for each decal- which makes cutting out the lettering much simpler.  However, they seem to have few passenger sets.  That said, I have utilized some from their locomotive sets, as sometimes the loco lettering is the same size and color as the passenger car lettering.

[jmlaboda]

And that is not a knock on MicroScale- their decals are very easy to work with, and I really appreciate that the decal film is separate for each decal- which makes cutting out the lettering much simpler.  However, they seem to have few passenger sets.  That said, I have utilized some from their locomotive sets, as sometimes the loco lettering is the same size and color as the passenger car lettering.

The real problem here is that there are so few modelers who are willing to paint and letter their own equipment making the demand for such decals rather low.  Custom decal manufacturers are able to make smaller runs and a small profit from them with some of the most desirable roads being able to make a go at it but someone like MS that requires very large runs likely will sit on shelves and in the store room for years before fully realizing their full potential.  Its just the nature of today's modeling and its not just N-scale that they are trying to cater too, its many scales who suffer from the self-same problem.

Having ready-to-run equipment is a God-send and nothing short of it.  Without it N-scale would not be as popular of a scale than what it is today.  But the smaller numbers of modelers who are willing to go beyond just buying a model, placing it on their layout and running wild with it hurts those who are looking for something more than just a mass produced knock off that all look the same.  I don't blame the manufacturers nor do I blame any modeler... they know their abilities and their limited and I am glad that they get enjoyment from the hobby.  But those who do think out of the box (a subject that I have touched on ever since I first started up the N-scale Varnish list back in July of 2001, the rewards can be great and so can the appreciation by others.  Some of the others do go on to try new things and that is always a good thing... those who are not able at least appreciate the efforts of those who do... it helps our hobby to become even greater!!!

fixed quote tag -gfh

[peteski]

The real problem here is that there are so few modelers who are willing to paint and letter their own equipment making the demand for such decals rather low.  Custom decal manufacturers are able to make smaller runs and a small profit from them with some of the most desirable roads being able to make a go at it but someone like MS that requires very large runs likely will sit on shelves and in the store room for years before fully realizing their full potential.  Its just the nature of today's modeling and its not just N-scale that they are trying to cater too, its many scales who suffer from the self-same problem.

I believe that is exactly the problem and the reason for companies like Microscale for not producing more decals. Especially in N scale.   The market, now more than ever, seems to be shifting towards  RTR models.  There are relatively very few modelers willing to paint and decal their own models.  So, it is not financially viable for those companies to produce a batch of decals which will sit unsold for years.

But OTOH there are many ways to have low-volume batch of custom decals manufactured. It is also fairly inexpensive if one provides a print-ready artwork.

[Upstate Gator]

Tom,
I don't see a GTW set offered by Black Cat decals.http://www.blackcatdecals.com/product-category/n-decals/
Ben

[Upstate Gator]

Classic Trains magazine's website shows the C&EI Dixie Limited. There's what may be an RPO with two doors and two windows outboard of the doors. Any idea whose car that is? http://ctr.trains.com/~/media/images/railroad-reference/great-limiteds-online/2015/151001/gp1510011.jpg?mw=750

[jmlaboda]

Classic Trains magazine's website shows the C&EI Dixie Limited. There's what may be an RPO with two doors and two windows outboard of the doors. Any idea whose car that is?

Its a baggage - express, just not quite so easy to say whose.  That said, I consulted some of the passenger car diagrams that I have for several roads, starting with the C&EI, and low and behold... there it was...

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Definitely unique among head-end equipment... may not have been equipped with electric lights when built, hence the windows being retained.  Wish all of them were as easy to identify.

[Upstate Gator]

Thanks Jerry
The Erie C-9 baggage cars also had windows. May have been  pre-electricity as well. Is that drawing from the C&EI DVD?
Ben

[jmlaboda]

I don't now the source... a friend shared a number of .pdf files that has been shared with him over the years back a couple years ago.

[thomasjmdavis]

Upstate Gator,

Email Black Cat about the GTW decals- it may have been a rather limited run, but I bought several sets from them about a year ago (really hazy on the time frame, but not THAT long ago).  Each set included one of the CN sets, plus a separate sheet with GTW maple leaf logos and letterboards.

Tom D

[thomasjmdavis]

On the C&EI cars- the CEIHS has a DVD available with diagrams of most of the locos and cars that CEI used in the mid 20th century (including the car Jerry posted). They haven't advertised it much- the only place you see it on their website is the order blank.  There is also a disc of mechanical drawings.  At any rate, if you are modeling CEI or Dearborn station, these can be an invaluable source.

Note that the society also made (I don't know what might still be available)  N and HO decals for Meadowlark/Whippoorwill cars (the Whippoorwill striping will also work for other blue/orange cars) and later yellow lettering that will work for the 6-4-6 Pine Sleepers and other dark blue cars.  They also made dark blue lettering for the Budd stainless steel cars (the Budd order of 1953, and stainless cars shopped after that, had stainless letterboards with dark blue lettering).

The CEIHS website is a little messy, so you might be best off emailing the historical society, or asking on their yahoo group, about current availability of the DVDs and decals, but they appear in the latest copy of the Flyer that I have.

The CEI baggage with windows reminds me of some CP cars (which I think had 1 window each end rather than 2) and some SP Harriman cars.  Some CEI cars in the same series got rebuilt sides with no windows, and looked quite modern when finished.

[Angus Shops]

I also recommend making contact with Black Cat. He seems to be very responsive to modellers needs. When I did my resin 'Canadian slab side covered hopper', Black Cat was pretty quick to produce decal set for them. And his products are really great, with really sharp graphics.

I agree that the community of N scale 'scratch modellers' (those willing to custom paint, decal, kitbash, and/or scratch build) is pretty small, but they are an industrious group. I'm always impressed by the amazing models shown here on the Railwire, seen at model shows, and in publications. All of the resin cars and structures I have available started out as projects for my layout, and I intend to keep it that way. My method of building models leads to resin castings, which means multiple copies can be made, resulting in a small cottage industry. Others choose to use etched metal, Shapeways, good old fashioned scratch building, or other exotic techniques to produce their models. Those of us who really want model a real prototype will always need to build models; even our HO friends can't realistically expect off the shelf  models of everything they need. If you need it, and no one makes it, the only choice you have is to build it yourself (or go foob).

Bottom line: There are lots of really great model builders around, doing all sorts of interesting things.

Geoff